National Adventure Day 2013

Mark, Chuck, Robin, Lori

 October 12-13 was National Adventure weekend.  To honor such a great weekend we decided to attempt the Triple Crown of Mountain Biking.  

What is the Triple Crown you ask, well it’s just like in horse racing, it’s 3 different tracks, but unlike horse racing, you do all three in one day. 

We started and finished the ride at the Weldon Springs Mound, took the Hamburg and Katy trail to Klondike, while there did the Hogsback loop, rode to Matson Hill, yes that means we had to ride the 2 mile uphill to get to the park, rode all of the Matson trails, then rode to Lost Valley and got to ride all the new single track there.  When we made it back up the hill to the Hamburg trail, we rode back to the mound.  

Here is a short video I shot while at Matson Hill.

Below are some pictures we took during the Epic event, and no one even got hurt, there was a bit of blood and lots of dirt, so all in all, it was a great day.

Beautiful Cliff Face

Hanging out by the river

Just finished riding Matson Hill

tracks n treads 2013

Well I can’t say EVERYTHING went perfect, but I can say that it was an excellent race even with a few glitches.

So let me see if I can get tell you the story of tracks n treads in less than 100 pages.  Oh, quit moaning, I will keep it short.

As you know the weather this year has been more than crazy, we don’t know from day to day if it’s going to rain, sleet, snow, or be hot enough to jump in the pool.  So as we were just 3 weeks out from the race, and we ended up with 12 inches of snow, I was more than a little worried about anyone showing up to race. Just a week before race day, we only had about 50 entrants, but then the weather got nice and by the closing of online registration, just two days before the race, we had 105 entries. After race day registration, we had 159 entrants.  I guess I need to thank mother nature for that.  The weather was perfect, in the low 60’s at start time and the trails both run and bike were in perfect condition.

In the past we have always gotten a lot more trail runners than biathlon, but this year was different, which makes me believe that the word is getting out to the mountain biking community that this is a great race.  So here are the stats for the race.

Biathlon - 82 Male, 19 Female, 12 Team Male, 12 Team Co-ed                    

Trail Run - 10 Male, 12 Female

There are even more stats, which I love, but most people don’t so I won’t bore you with them.  Thanks to Randy from Metro Milers for leading the timing team and getting me the stats.

Now that you have the stats let me tell you a little about the day.  We had great volunteers that helped mark the course and setup the transition and finish line. 

Finish Line

Wade did a great job making the finish line interesting with a hill and a cyclocross barrier to cross, and with red bike sculptures along the finish chute. I bet there is no other race that you can get an art exhibit with your race at no extra charge.  

Bicycle Sculptures

The barrier gave spectators plenty of entertainment, watching the variety of ways people crossed the barrier.  This guy in particular was very cool.

Cool Dude jumping the barrier

All the pre-race setup was finished on Friday and on Saturday we just had to pull the race off.  We started the day with late coming information about a 5K race starting and running on some of the same course as our bikers and the race start time was about the same time as our bikers would be coming through.  Lucky for us Mike was able to reach the race director and workout a safety plan just before the race. We also found out about a canoe race so there were spectators all over the course.  We adapted to the change and no one was hurt.

Racers showed up and got registered, picking up a very cool custom printed Camelbak water bottle and KIND bars. 

Participants Schwag

The volunteers worked overtime getting everyone checked in. There were a couple bib number mix ups due to changes from trail run to biathlon, but other than that, everything went extremely smooth.  Soon we had everyone in place and after some pre-race comments, we were ready to go. Oh wait, I have one story to tell at this point.

My daughter China and her friend Jordyn had one important job to do, it was to stand at the top of Whiteside hill with the police and make sure that no cars came through as the runners crossed the road.  So Jeff, the Run Course Lead took them to their post and tells them what to do. Well as they stand there, they have a great idea to run to the car and get a blanket because it was kind of windy and they were cold.  Being teenagers, they didn’t think to check the time, so they headed back to the car and Jorydn starts to cross the street out of the cross walk, China tells her not to J walk because you can get a ticket. They get to the overpass and see the runners take off, so they turn and start running as fast as they can to get back to their post, Jordyn is running for the cross walk and China yells “just J walk” so they cross the street and are only yards in front of the first runner, they barely make it to their post as the runners pass by. 

The Race has started

They are so out of breath that they had no idea if there were cars coming or not, it’s just a good thing the police were there.  They did go back and hand out water though, at least they were good at that.

The volunteers that almost missed the race

So as you can see, the race took off at a fast pace with Travis Redden and Garrett Fulkerson running neck and neck most of the run. 

Travis followed by Garrett

Travis finished the run first and went through the finish chute, but then we noticed he was on a team, so he just ran about 200 meters out of his way and had to run over and tag his teammate.  Russ quickly ran down to the tunnel to direct the runners to make sure that didn’t happen a second time.  Garrett Fulkerson came in winning the trail run, with Renee Wilcox winning the female division of the trail run. Garrett ran a time of 27:07, while Renee finished in a smoking fast 30:52.  These were both super fast times for the difficulty of the course.

More and more people headed out on bikes while trail runners finished the race, there was an incredible race going between the 1^st and 2^nd place overall all men, Anthony Dust and Matt Fulbright were racing it out for 1^st overall with Anthony taking first in a time of 1:05:24 with Matt coming in just over a minute behind him. Melisa Lemus took 1^st place for the women in a time of 1:10:22.

Anthony Dust

Another notable finish was our club president, Mike Wever.  He competed in tracks n treads for the first time and had a pretty good finish for an old guy, but he couldn’t beat Pat or Keith, which means they will never let him live it down.

Pat

Keith

Mike

Mike at the finish

Soon it was time for the awards and other then one competitor’s time getting lost, due to a missing bib tag, all went well.  Winners took home a really cool acrylic leaf.

Cool Awards

We had several people taking photos and they can be found on the Team Godzilla website, along with the full results. 

I want to take time to thank everyone involved with this race, the Cyclery and Fitness for coming out and helping with bike needs, Wild Tracks for loaning us their cyclocross barrier, Metro Milers for doing the race timing, SIUE for allowing us to hold this race on their beautiful campus and providing police protection, KIND for donating the very tasty and nutritious bars, that everyone loved, and of course GORC for building and maintaining great trails for us to ride and run on.

A special shout out goes to all those behind the scenes that do the work no one ever sees, thanks Jeff S, Mike W, Russ D, Mike H, Andrea M, Andrea W. And lets not forget the 40+ volunteers who were out there on race day.

2014 will be our 5^th year for this event and we hope to make it our biggest and most memorable yet.  I hope to see you next year.

Conquer Castlewood 2011

No paddling, can you believe that, stupid rain. I know what you’re thinking, every race report I have ever written says, I hate paddling and I do, but in a short race where the paddle is just a couple miles, I’m ok with it. I’m really ok with it when it comes at the beginning of the race and can be used for a nice warm-up that keeps my legs fresh for a fast mountain bike ride.


So at this years Conquer Castlewood race, there would be no paddle. The water was up and there was no beach to be found, so the paddle leg was cancelled. I was not at all happy with the circumstances and my teammate, Allan was not happy with the change either, but he is a super fast runner, so I didn’t think it would really make much of a difference to his time. Instead of starting the race paddling we would sprint a 1.5 mile loop, I call it a sprint not a run because that’s what it ends up being. The loop consisted of trail with sand and mud, at one point there were so many people that I was pushed over to the muddy side of the trail and ended up ankle deep in the mud. I kept running with mud and sand weighing my shoes down and my feet kept hitting slimy sections and sliding around. I had been running next to Chuck for the entire leg and then at the mile mark Chuck pulled away, and I chased him all the way to the bike transition.



I was about 2 seconds behind Chuck at the start of the bike, but he quickly left me when we hit the field section. I really hate to say it, but he is stronger than I am. There Chuck write it down, you might not ever hear it again. Since the run was so fast, I was tired and the mountain bike leg just didn’t feel as good as it does coming off a paddle leg. After the loop around the big field I started to get my legs back and turn on the heat, passing a few guys, then my friend Mike passed me, he is always saying how he is slow, he is not slow, he flew past me. The problem was we both got to the steep part of Grotpeter and there was a line of riders stopped and walking. There was no way to ride around them, so we both jumped off our bikes and ran up the hill, then hopped back on and took off. That is when Mike pulled away from me like I was standing still. I was still passing people but at the top of Grotpeter where the trail turns back into the woods next to the road, I caught 4 guys and we were on a narrow single track section, and I couldn’t get past them. I was riding way slower then I should have been, but there was no way around. I finally made it around the first 3, but was still behind one more guy and I didn’t get a chance to pass him until I was almost to the road crossing by the rangers station. I don’t know how much time that cost me, but if I had to guess it was at least 3 minutes. So I turned the heat up again and bombed the rest of the loop into transition. I was in and out of transition in 25 seconds and running back down the trail to the section that was filled with sand and mud. This time there were a lot less people so I could pick a better line. I passed Mike in the sandy section, I think his smoking fast bike time, might have taken a toll on is legs, he looked good, but said he was slowing down. I kept pushing thinking maybe I could catch Chuck, but it never happened. I gave the race my all, but my time wasn’t what I wanted it to be. I really need to get in better shape.


Still I had fun and my partner Allan smoked both runs and the bike, I just don’t know how he does it. Allan, I promise next year I will be in better shape.


Chuck and Megan had a great race too, Megan is my stand in on the Rock Racing team.


Allan and I were in the first wave of the race so after we finished there were lots of racers still out, including my friend Kate. Another friend, Keith and I headed out on our bikes to cheer on our teammate Kate, she had started in the second wave and was running the last half mile to the finish so we rode with her into the finish. This was her first Conquer Castlewood and she was really having a great time doing it. She crossed the finish line with a smile on her face and another great accomplishment under her belt.


This is such a fun race, that I encourage everyone to do it and after the race when you know everyone, it’s like one big fitness party. It’s one of those places that you can stand around, sweaty, muddy, bloody and stinky and everyone around you thinks it’s just normal.

Chuck's Bloody Eye
Ballwin Parks and Recreation, you put on an awesome race!

To read Kate’s account of the race, check out the Super Kate blog.

And a big THANKS to Lori for taking all the great pictures, it’s so nice to have a photographer follow us around and document all our adventures.

LBL 24hr 2011

To say that the Land Between the Lakes was the hardest adventure race I have ever completed is just not enough.  In no way can these few words explain to you exactly what I was feeling and what I was thinking, that is when I was lucid enough to have an actual thought.

24 hours, that’s all it was to be, heck Chuck and I have done longer races than that and in what at the time seemed like much more treacherous territory then the Midwest could ever be. Let me just tell you, the Midwest is no place sissies.  

We arrived at the pre-race meeting with speculation as to the race start time and where we would start from, but like every other speculation we have ever had about adventure racing, this one was just as wrong.  We even tried to trick Jason into telling us the start time before the meeting, but Jason is sharp, he just laughs and says I guess you will find out at the meeting.  We were kind of hoping for a 7 am start, but were sure it was going to be a 12 am start.  So when Jason said the meeting would start at 12 am and that we had 40 points to plot, everyone groaned.  Lucky for us he then said “April Fools!”, we thought it was a gift from God when he said the real start time would be 7am.  We thought everything was going our way, ha ha, now that was a completely goofy thought.  We were given our maps and some instructions and sent on our way. 

Back at the hotel we plotted the points and realized just how long the mileage could be on all of the legs, but we were pretty confident that it would be no problem for us.  I mean we were nervous, but still confident.  I guess our confidence has been a real laugh, now that it is over.  So off to bed it was, I woke up every 45 minutes worrying that I was going to miss the alarm.  5:30 am came and I loaded my gear into the Adventure van and was happy about the warm temperatures outside.  Boy, was that a mistake, I would have liked it to be about 10 degrees cooler as the day went on.

We lined up at the starting line, which was after what seemed to be 10 trips to the bathroom. 12 hours racers in front, 24 hour racers in back, then with 15 seconds to the start Jason says, 24 hour racers, you don’t have to carry your packs for the first leg, but you do need your cell phone.  On one hand I was relieved that I wouldn’t have what felt like 30 pounds on my back for the first four checkpoints, on the other hand, we had to scramble to get our packs off and grab our maps before the race started.  Luckily our new Osprey packs are easy to organize and Chuck had the cell phone out in a flash.  This was just another of Jason’s little surprises.  He likes to surprise the racers every once in a while to keep us on our toes.

We took off and all was going well, we ran the entire first leg and went directly to all of the checkpoints.  At CP3 we had two choices, walk across a very long log over the lake or run a long way around the lake, we chose to cross the log.  I really think Chuck wants to see me swim in these events, but lucky for him I made it across without falling into the lake. CP4 was the transition, so we headed back up a long steep hill to grab our packs and our bikes.

CP5 through CP11 were bike points and they were all on single track. If you have never been to LBL, they have some of the best single track around.  We were moving through this section, hitting short steep climbs and rolling over lots of roots and logs.  This part made me think about Castlewood, there is a section at Castlewood that has a short steep climb and just before the top there is a tree root and some rocks and no mater how hard I try and can never ride through it without getting off my bike.  I have even tried to go up and down the hill trying to make it through, but I have never been able to do it.  So now we are hitting sections that are 10 times as hard as the section at Castlewood and we are riding through every one of them.  I just can’t figure out why that section of Castlewood beats me every time.  Sorry about the digression, back to the race. We quickly picked up CP 5-8 and then we rode and rode trying to get to nine.  On the way we passed a team that was having mechanical problems, their chain had broke for the 3^rd time and they didn’t have a master link to fix it this time.  We didn’t have one or we would have given it to them.  They were really tough though, they were running pushing the bike and hopping on during down hills and coasting.  Get this, they were keeping up with us!  Somehow we were discussing the chain issue and rode right by CP9.  We rode for about 5 minutes and realized we had gone too far, so we turned around and rode back, only to see the bike pushing team at the CP.  I don’t know the team’s real name, but I would really like to know if they got the chain fixed and finished the race, they really deserved a shot at finishing after that, most teams would have just dropped after the 3^rd break in the chain.

We hit the bike drop at CP11 and took off for a long orienteering section, which based on the maps looked to be at least 18 miles long.  We were told we had 7 hours to be finished, if we didn’t finish in 7 hours we would start losing CP’s , the first one being 1 second after 7 hours then 1 CP for every 5 minutes after that.  We knew we had to do what ever it took to be back in 7 hours or we were just wasting out time finding CP’s. 

We had a plan to pick up most of the closer CP’s then check our time and see what else we could grab.  Things were going pretty well, we were finding the CP’s exactly where we thought they would be.  I had forgotten to bring a headband and the wind was blowing my hair in my eyes, I really needed to see what I was doing and it wasn’t working too well.  We came across a tree that was marked by an orange ribbon, so I pulled the ribbon off the tree and tied it around my head as a headband, it worked really well, even if I did look like a dork.

Of course now there is some deer hunter out there wondering around in the woods unable to find his deer stand because I took his marker.   I’m pretty sure it belonged to a deer hunter because right after I grabbed the tape, we found a deer skull close by.

I was starting to get tired and there were a lot of really steep hills. Chuck even mentioned that I had not talked for 6 minutes which was a record for me, he knew something was going wrong when I wasn’t talking the entire race.  We hit a road and started walking for a few minutes, as we crested the hill we saw the Alpine Shop team coming toward us.  They were all hooked together by bungees and Jeff and pulling the entire team along. They were moving and looking as tough as ever.  Of course here we were walking and looking like death warmed over.  Chuck and I said the same thing,  “I can’t believe Alpine Shop just caught us walking”  it was too late to start running and no use doing it for show, they would know we were slackers just trying to look good. So as they ran by I said “I can’t believe you caught us walking” Oh and that wasn’t the worst of what they caught us doing, more about that later.

The next CP was at the end of a long plowed field.  We were lucky it wasn’t all mud, but walking through the plowed rows was no picnic.

We were watching the clock and knew we needed to start heading back to the transition at CP29, so we decided to skip CP26 and go after CP15 then head in.  Well something happened, I don’t really know what.  This was probably because I was starting to fall apart.  I was connected to Chuck with a bungee made out of carabiners and surgical hosing.  Chuck was dragging me behind and I was just thrashing through the thick brush, trying to jump logs to keep up before I fell to the ground and was dragged to my death.  We finally stopped so Chuck could look at the map a little closer and we found out we were way off course, so we trekked over about 3 or 4 more hills looking for a road. 

 We finally found the road, but we only had 23 minutes to get to transition and Chuck estimated that we had 2000 meters to go. So we took off running, the longer we went the tighter the bungee was being pulled, by the time we hit the last section of woods, which was covered in thick branches and logs that were left from the ice storm of 2009, the bungee was at it’s breaking point and so was I.  I knew Chuck was running so fast because he felt like it was his fault we might not make the cutoff time, but the truth is, I’m no help at orienteering, so he gets no second set of eyes like most teams do.  I wasn’t going to blame him if we missed the time cutoff, because if I would learn to orienteer, we probably wouldn’t be in these kinds of predicaments.  We were running fast and I couldn’t go any faster so I told him if he went any faster I was going to be laying on the ground and he was going to be dragging me, of course he thought I was joking, I wasn’t.  Then I told him I was going punch him if he didn’t stop dragging me, I think he still thought I was joking, I wasn’t, I was ready to resort to violence.  

We made it to CP29 with only 3 minutes to spare.  Our cheerleading squad was there, Chuck’s wife Lori and his boys, Sam and Jacob and my mom, daughter China and niece Kayla.  China and Kayla were stuck up in a tree and I think Sam and Jacob were just glad they couldn’t get down, because those girls just about drove them crazy talking all weekend.   Team Torti was there and we discussed the best way to start the bike, by either heading through the woods or taking the longer road route.  Fletcher (a fantastic navigator) convinced us the road route was better, I need to thank him for that.  I was really tired of crawling through downed trees and I didn’t want to do it with a bike on my back.

Lori gave us some updates from Checkpoint Tracker. We had lots of shout outs from our friends.  Kate, Shannon, and Mark were keeping it positive, while Patrick was telling us to get our butts moving while he took a nap. Oh and my son Garrett, asked if he could use the credit card for beer because he was having a party and they were out, what a joker he is. Those shout outs really gave us some motivation, because by this point I was thinking that maybe adventure racing was not fun any more.  We both ate a sandwich and put on a few more clothes, it was starting to cool off a little and the wind had really picked up, we knew we would be cold on the bikes.  We had been having a hard time all day figuring out what clothes to have on.  It was the type of weather that standing still or moving slow you were cold, but the uphills would turn you into fire.  We spent the entire race, dressing and undressing at the CP’s.

We said our goodbyes put on our Hardnutz helmets and headed out on the bike for the next leg, this leg had a lot of biking, but most of it on dirt and gravel roads, so we thought it might go faster.  

It was a long way, the leg was 40 miles by the time we reached the next transition.  I was glad I was riding my Trek Top Fuel, but as I watched Chuck on his Trek Superfly 100, I was getting 29er lust.  It just seemed like the 29ers roll through the hills, and turns with no effort.  It could just be the rider, but I would like to believe if I had a Superfly I could be the one riding effortlessly through the trails and making it look so easy. As we left on our bikes Chuck said he was so tired that it was like he was riding on flat tires.  As we headed up the hill and I fell in behind him, I saw why it was so hard for him, he did have a flat tire. 

We pulled off the road and fixed the flat, we only had to air it up, Chuck rides  tubeless tires, so we thought maybe some air and a rolling wheel would seal the leak.  I seemed to work so we kept riding, we did have to stop one other time to add air, but the new Kenda Slant Six tires took the beating well and we didn’t have to tube the tire at all.  We then rode right past our turn, but figured it out quickly and turned around.  It was really getting dark, if we turned off our lights we couldn’t see anything.  It’s a good thing we both have great bike lights.

Like I said the bike leg was long, but the CP’s were pretty easy to find, well that was until we hit CP35.  It was about 1 am and we found the creek we thought that the CP was in, but somehow were too tired to think straight and couldn’t find it.  So we rode on thinking maybe we were one creek away.  Well we figured out that the CP was just a little off the road and we didn’t look well enough, but we did not want to spend the time to go back, so we just rode to CP36 which was the bike transition.  We had ridden though a couple creeks and we both had wet feet when we got to transition.   We hit transition, quickly made it through the gear check, there were some great volunteers working the CP, they had built a campfire to warm up by.  We added a few layers of clothes, it was really starting to feel cold, probably because we had wet feet and legs.  I had an extra pair of socks so I put them on, Chuck didn’t have extra socks so he sat down and put his feet in the fire.

After a long transition, we headed out.  This is where it really fell apart for me.  My feet were hurting, I had gotten a cortisone shot in my foot a couple days before the race, to help with an injury to it, but the affects sort of wore off after the first 12 hours and now every time I put my foot down it hurt.  I’m not going to sugar coat this, I was whining about it the whole race, I think Chuck was about to resort to violence if I didn’t quit whining. Chuck did a little whining too, his knees and feet were hurting, but I was taking the prize for the biggest whiner.  I was also having problems eating.  I had eaten almost everything I had, I thought I had one Honey Stinger Rocket Chocolate left, but couldn’t find it in my pack. I did have a pack of sport beans, but I just couldn’t make myself eat them.  Chuck tried to get me to drink a bottle of Ensure he had, but I knew if I did, it would end up in projectile vomiting, so why waste the Ensure, he could drink it and keep it down.  I was stumbling around, I couldn’t walk a straight line. To top it off, we were told at the pre-race meeting that the maps were not correct for this section and didn’t show the trail in detail.  Chuck needed to study the map and I needed to stop just for a minute, so we stopped on the side of the trail, I laid down on the ground and went right to sleep, just as soon as I closed my eyes, I heard something, 4 bikes came past us, it was Alpine Shop.  So now not only did they catch us walking earlier, they caught me sleeping.  They asked if we were ok and Chuck told them we were just taking a break.  Well, that was pretty embarrassing, so we got up and started moving again.  Two more times during this trekking section, we had to stop for me to take a 15 minute snooze, but I would not have been able to go on without it.

As we walked up the last hill into the transition area, where we would pickup the last set of CP’s, we discussed our options for finishing the race.  With the condition I was in at the time, we weren’t even sure that we could get one canoe CP, then do a trek and ride to the finish.  This is what we were expected from the next map based on the comments we overheard at the last CP.  The fastest teams had already come through and picked up bikes, heading to the finish line.  We knew even with the 29 hour time limit we might not be able to make it back in time.  We discussed skipping the last CP’s and taking the hit.  We were not sure if that was legal. If that would be considered a withdrawal, we would not do it, and would take our chances on making it back on-time. Chuck mused that maybe he could leave me at the finish and complete the race solo.  Even though I wasn’t sure I could make it, there was no way I was sending him out solo, plus I think that is illegal and wouldn’t fly anyway.  I thought I was going to have to revert to violence again and kick him in the shin so he couldn’t go out.   

We reached the top of the hill and came down to the transition which was also the finish line, where we handed the volunteer our passport, ready to start exploring our options once we received the next map.  The volunteer said “Good Job you’re done.”  We both looked at each other and said, “Nope, we have one more map and a canoe to get into”.  That’s when the birds started chirping and the angels were singing and the sky opened and a rainbow with a pot of gold showed up.  Well that’s how it felt at least.  We were told that there were 50 mph wind advisories and that we were not allowed on the lake, therefore we were finished.

All of the sudden a feeling of relief so great came across me that I almost cried.  I really wanted to grab that volunteer and hug her.  But, as the seasoned adventure racer that I am, I decided that maybe that wasn’t the right thing to do, so instead we got a picture at the finish line, then went to the tent where I ate a chili dog minus the dog, which bye the way completely renewed my lease on life and I started talking non-stop about the stroke of luck we just had.  Chuck ate a baked potato covered with chili and he called Lori at the hotel to come pick us up.  My plan was to go back to the hotel, take a shower and a nap and head home.  I thought we had done so badly that there was no use staying for awards.  But Chuck being the optimist that he is, asked if we even had a chance at the top three and was told you are probably second or third.   So guess what, no nap, we had just enough time to go take a shower and make it back to awards.  Chuck found a few extra minutes to find the biggest plastic cup he could and fill it at the Kuat Rack trailer with his favorite Springfield Brewery pale ale.  Thanks Kuat!

We ended up in 3^rd place in the 2 person co-ed division, which gives us a load of Checkpoint Tracker points towards the national rankings and a prize.  We both ended up with 30 dollar gift cards to the Alpine Shop, it’s only our favorite store.

Even though in the last few miles of the race, I had decided to end my adventure racing career, move to some old folks home and never workout again.  I now, after some of the pain has faded, am considering another race. I guess Chuck is stuck with me for a while longer.  And one last note, I am covered in chiggers and still removing ticks from my body.